


you met me when the sun was down

by mundaneanarchy



Category: Community (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-08-19
Updated: 2014-01-04
Packaged: 2017-12-24 00:02:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,011
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/932665
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mundaneanarchy/pseuds/mundaneanarchy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <em>It’s senior year of high school, and Troy Barnes is hopelessly in love with the biggest dork in all of Riverside.</em>
</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Troy

**Author's Note:**

> Not really sure where I'm going with this??? I just wrote this real quick bc I'm seriously surprised at the lack of high school aus in the troy/abed tag. How does a show like community not have enough high school aus???? I'm thinking every chapter i'll switch off between troy and abed's pov but I'll stay in the isolated 3rd person narration. I'll keep updating probably for my own personal therapeutic reasons and i have a loose plot thought out but tbh dont be honest if I totally forget about this. I'm not v. good with chapter-by-chapter updates.

Being the star quarterback of Riverside High has a few drawbacks.

Pros include: Girls constantly drooling over you 24/7, scholarships being handed out to you left and right even though you’re just barely passing your subjects, teachers looking the other way when something gets slightly out of hand, and the intoxicating power ideology that comes with the title.

Of course, the elephant in the room of adolescent popularity is always the crippling inferiority complex.

Abed Nadir is his exact opposite.

Nadir is quiet in all the moments that Troy would be grappling for conversation, and silently thoughtful in the most complex and fascinating way whereas Troy can babble on for hours without saying anything even remotely substantial. He is half Pakistani and half Polish with features so fragile they could shatter and a stare so piercing it tears Troy to shreds every time they make eye contact for more than two seconds. He is brilliant and dignified and confident and self-aware and all the things that Troy can’t be. He is breathtakingly beautiful in the most delicate and irrational way.

Needless to say, Abed Nadir is social suicide.

He’s been shoved into more lockers than there are in the average high school, and has protested to approximately zero of these attempts. His father’s falafel cart has been vandalized with more racist slurs than Troy can keep count of at this point. His hair and cardigans have seen more spitballs than Troy’s seen in all his life.

It’s senior year of high school, and Troy Barnes is hopelessly in love with the biggest dork in all of Riverside.

Go figure.


	2. Abed

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _Troy Barnes is not the first of mysteries to Abed in his study of human character. He is, surprisingly, the most interesting._

Troy Barnes: Inconclusive.

Abed Nadir is not completely sure what a ‘crush’ actually is.

Or, at least, he thinks he isn’t sure.

It’s hard to explain the way his knees go sort of weak when Troy Barnes shines those bright, white teeth in his direction or drools a little on his notebook in class during a quick nap. He’s not precisely positive on how to describe the way his stomach flips when Troy tells his football friends to back off him at his locker or how his chest feels tight when Troy puts a hand on his shoulder and tells him “not to worry about it, those guys are all dicks anyway”. It may or may not be related to how he unconsciously bites his lip the first time he hears Troy swear.

Troy Barnes is not the first of mysteries to Abed in his study of human character. He is, surprisingly, the most interesting.

Troy is outgoing and competitive and friendly and boisterous. Around his friends he is loud and social and knows all the right cues and what to say and when to say it. Around all genders he is kind and accommodating. Unlike most of his friends, around girls he is very withdrawn and noticeably shy and polite, whereas the rest of his jock buddies tend to, but don’t exclusively, treat most of their female counterparts in very demeaning and patronizing ways. With all of his girlfriends he has kept them at a respectable distance and done all the things high school quarterbacks are supposed to do. He lends her his jacket and walks her to class and carries her books and hugs her (albeit awkwardly, it does have to be said).

Abed would think nothing of this, except for the fact that Troy is actually nice to him.

No one is nice to Abed. Abed is weird and alienating and intimidating and scarily conscious of all of this.

Troy Barnes, though. Troy Barnes holds the door open for Abed. Troy Barnes smiles and makes eye contact with him in the hallway. Troy Barnes apologizes for his friends’ behavior in hushed tones outside of classrooms as the morning traffic rushes around them. Troy Barnes isn’t afraid to ask him a question in class or whisper a joke to him about their teacher. Troy Barnes makes Abed Nadir smile.

Troy Barnes hasn’t given up on him yet.

Abed’s not quite sure that he means, but what he does know is that he is in far, far too deep.


	3. Chapter 3

It starts the way most school romances start—with someone being shoved in a locker.

It’s a daily ritual for Abed these days. Teenagers are always put off by the fast-blinking, stoic, self-aware type that can pinpoint their biggest weaknesses in five seconds flat and tell them flat out their most prevalent source of emotional pain without batting an eyelash. He’s known that since elementary school. That’ll never change. And it’s not Abed’s job to change it.

At the exact moment that an empty locker clangs open, Troy Barnes rounds the corner on his way out of the school. He catches sight of a group of his hands and raises his hand to wave but then he sees familiar, slicked back black hair and poignant eyes staring straight ahead silently.

“Yo!” he yells across the hallway, walking a bit faster. “Cam!”

A tall, blonde kid wearing a varsity jacket lifts his head and grins when he sees Troy. “T-Bone! What up, dog?”

“Not much,” he forces a smile back and shakes hands with Cam. “Yo, I just saw Pelton about to walk down this hall, and you know how he’s on that whole bullying craze. If he sees a group of white kids shoving Slumdog over here in a locker he’ll go crazy.”

“Good call,” Cam says. “Thanks, bro.” He nods his head at the group of guys and hurries in the other direction. “Hurry up, assholes!”

Troy watches them go and waits until they’re out of sight before turning around and reaching his hand out to help Abed up. “You okay, bud?”

Abed takes the hand and dusts himself off. “Good thing you warned them about Mr. Pelton. If Cameron gets suspended one more time he’ll be expelled, and his father has a pretty vicious temper when it comes to that kind of stuff.”

“Oh, ah, Pelton’s not coming. I lied. I just knew if I told them to back off Cam would be a total dick about it.” Troy cocks his head and furrows his brows at him. “Hold on, how’d you know all that shit about Cam?”

“I know things,” Abed answers simply. “Did you not know that? Aren’t you his best friend?”

“I guess not.” Troy shoves his hands in his pockets. “Listen, what are you doing right now? Need a ride home?”

“I just have free period.”

“So do I. Come on.”

Abed stays still, staring at him. “Come where?”

“Just, like, I don’t know. To my car, dude. We can go get something to eat or something.”

“You mean like hang out? Together?”

“Uh, yeah? Is that okay?”

“You want to hang out? With me?”

“Not if you’re gonna be all weird about it, Jesus Christ, it was just a suggestion.”

Abed stares at him for a long time. “Is this a joke?”

“What? No.”

“A prank?”

“Why would I do that, dude?”

Abed looks at him then shrugs. “Sure. Okay.”

Abed doesn’t follow Troy out to his car like most people would. Instead he walks quickly, like he’s leading the way. Troy has to walk a little bit faster to keep up with the strides of his long legs, and is about to tell him to slow down until he realizes that what the hell, how does Abed even know where he’s going?

“How do you know where my car is?” he asks, only slightly out of breath.

“I have all the student parking spaces memorized.”

“What? Shut up, no you don’t.”

“Troy Barnes. Spot 502.”

“Fuck off. That’s incredible. Where’s Cam’s spot?”

“243. Near the cafeteria.”

“How do you do that, man? That’s crazy.”

Abed shrugs again. “I remember some things easily.”

Troy grins and wrestles with his car door. The key to this stupid thing always fucking sticks at the worst possible times. He laughs triumphantly when he gets it open and slides in. Abed follows suit.

“Sorry my car’s such a piece of shit,” Troy says, and he tries to make it come off light but instead it’s intensely vulnerable. “It was cheap, though, so.”

Abed doesn’t say anything back. Troy nods and exhales sharply before starting the car.

“So,” he says, “Where d’you wanna go?”

“You’re a good driver,” Abed says, ignoring Troy’s question altogether.

“What? Uh, yeah, I mean. I guess so.”

“You seem like you would be a reckless driver but you’re actually very careful and intricate.”

“Are you gonna narrate my driving the whole time we hang out?”

“It’s just interesting, is all. You have a cautious nature. Most of the people you hang out with don’t.”

Troy doesn’t know if he should be offended or flattered, so he just says nothing instead.

“We could just go to your house. Don’t both your parents work?”

“Seriously man, like, what the hell, how do you know all this stuff?”

“I’m a student of character.”

“Well, cut it out. You’re creeping me out, for real.”

“Sorry.”

They arrive at Troy’s house and he hops out of the car. Abed follows him quickly to his bedroom. Troy falls onto his bed and sighs, flipping the TV on. Abed stands awkwardly in the corner.

“What are you doing, dude?”

“Um. Watching TV. With you, apparently.”

“What, you just gonna stand there the whole time?”

“There aren’t any other seats.”

“That’s what the bed is for, duh.” Troy slides over and pats the mattress. “Just sit over here.”

Abed shuffles over to the bed and carefully situates himself on it. Troy slumps against the wall, flipping through the channels mindlessly. He lands on a rerun of The Office and bumps his shoulder against Abed’s. Abed leans into the touch, visibly relaxing.

They sit and watch TV wordlessly, never acknowledging the comfortable warmth between the two of them. Troy giggles loudly at every joke and Abed ducks his head and smiles every time. After a while Abed turns his head to look at Troy, who only glances at him briefly.

“Uh, why’re you looking at me like that, dude?”

Abed just blinks and closes his eyes before leaning in to press a soft kiss to Troy’s lips. It’s shallow but firm, and Troy gives in for a few seconds before he feels Abed’s fingers brush his and he pulls away, feigning disgust.

“What the hell was that?”

“I thought all the signs were there.” Abed cocks his head at him. “Whenever you look at me your heart rate increases and your pupils dilate. Today you saved me from your friends even though it would have no added benefit for you. And you asked me to hang out today out of the blue. Plus, when you look at me you have a very similar look to how Jim looks at Pam.” He nods toward the television, where Jim and Pam are giggling together flirtatiously. “Didn’t you want me to?”

“No!” Troy shouts defensively, but shrivels in on himself and presses his lips together uncertainly. “Well. I don’t think so. Maybe. I guess, yeah, I might’ve. But, like…I don’t know, man.”

“My observations of you indicate toward homosexuality,” Abed says bluntly. “All your interactions with females are far more uncomfortable than normal, and with all of your girlfriends you’ve clearly never gotten past kissing. You’re obviously a virgin, too.”

“Yeah, so?”

“So.”

Troy glares at him a long time before baring his teeth. “So,” he repeats nastily, and grabs hold of Abed before pulling him into a heated kiss. He may have only kissed a few times before, and they may have all been girls, but he knows what to do. He could usually get into it if he closed his eyes and pretended it was someone else. He’s not a _total_ virgin, after all.

Abed kisses him back like it’s nothing, following his lead willingly.

“If you tell anyone else about this I’ll kill you,” Troy growls into his mouth.

“This is such a trope,” Abed says, and smiles against Troy’s lips. “Cool.”


End file.
